While growing up, Boehner would stop by the business to buy candy bars and pop.
“John was a soft-spoken young man, with a very nice and religious family,” Gertz said. “Pleasure to wait on them, those types of people.”
Gertz, 75, said he used to stop by Boehner’s grandfather’s business in Reading.
“John use to work there as a boy. He came from a humble beginning, mopping the floors — and ended up being the third-most powerful person in the world,” he said.
Boehner was a linebacker on Moeller High School’s football team — one of Cincinnati’s premier athletic programs.
“One time he visited my store on crutches,” Gertz recalled. “He had broke his foot or ankle playing football.”
The first person in his family to attend college, Boehner earned a degree in business from Xavier University.
Gertz say he still sees members of Boehner’s family, but he doesn’t see John often.
“To be truthful, I haven’t seen him in years. Last time was when he was appointed speaker; he gave an interview at St. Peter and Paul Church in Reading,” he said.
Gertz has watched Reading, located10 miles north of downtown Cincinnati off Interstate 75, go through changes through the years, including a population that’s moved away — mostly to northern suburbs in Butler and Hamilton counties. That includes Boehner, who moved to West Chester shortly after graduating college.
“I’m very happy to have met him, and the opportunity to spend some time with him here in Reading,” Gertz said. “I’m very proud of him. The whole city of Reading is very proud of John Boehner.”
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